iumentum

Latin

Etymology

From Old Latin iouxmentom, from Proto-Italic *jouksmentom, a back-formation from iumenta, from iungere (“to yoke, to join”) + -menta (“forming collective nouns”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /i̯uːˈmen.tum/, [i̯uːˈmɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /juˈmen.tum/, [juˈmɛn̪t̪um]

Noun

iūmentum n (genitive iūmentī); second declension

1. (zoology) A draft animal, a beast of burden, a large domestic animal suitable for drawing carts and carriages: a cow, horse, mule, or donkey.

   Synonym: veterīnum

   • 1st century, L. Iunius Moderatus Columella, De Res Rustica, Book VI, Preface, Sect. 3:

     Unde etiam iumenta et armenta nomina a re traxere quod nostrum laborem vel onera subvectando vel arando iuvarent.

     And so it is that iumenta and armenta draw their names from the fact that they aid our work either by bringing up burdens or by plowing.

2. (zoology) Synonym of iumenta: such animals taken collectively.
3. (vehicles) A vehicle drawn by such animals: a wagon, a carriage, a cart.

Usage notes

In Latin, iumenta are distinguished both from the armenta used to draw ploughs and from weaker domestic animals (pecora) unable to pull heavy loads such as riding horses and donkeys used only as pack animals.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	iūmentum	iūmenta
Genitive	iūmentī	iūmentōrum
Dative	iūmentō	iūmentīs
Accusative	iūmentum	iūmenta
Ablative	iūmentō	iūmentīs
Vocative	iūmentum	iūmenta

Synonyms

• (vehicle): carrus, plaustrum

Hyponyms

• (beast of burden): bos, equus, asinus, mulus

Derived terms

• iūmentārius

Descendants

• Franco-Provençal: jument
• French: jument
• English: jument
• Italian: giumento, giumenta
• Norman: jeunment
• Portuguese: jumento
• Romansch: gumain
• Sicilian: jimenta
• Spanish: jumento

References

• “iumentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• iumentum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• "Pecus; Jumentum; Armentum; Grex" in H.H. Arnold's translation of Ludwig von Döderlein's Hand-Book of Latin Synonymes (1841), pp. 158–9.